holding out for a hero

Dear fandom5k writer,

My main AO3 account is meinterrupted, and I have also written under my OW sock shiny_silver_socks. Feel free to peruse any other recent exchange letters (tagged dear author) for additional prompts/ideas/thoughts. If I've requested a prompt for one fandom, I'm generally happy for it to be applied to other fandoms. Also, if something is requested in my letter but not in my AO3 signup (or vice versa), please treat the sign-up on AO3 as correct over the letter. I tend to edit my signups a bit compulsively, and the letter doesn't always change accordingly. You can also find my signup at the AutoAO3 App.

Please note, some sections are longer than the others, because I've requested these canons multiple times and changed and added as I did so, while others are newer. This is NOT an indication of liking one request over another. I love all of these fandoms to bits and would be ecstatic to receive fic for any or all of them. Also, I would much rather you take one or two of my prompts or likes and run with them, rather than trying to stuff as many of them as possible into one fic.

I have uploaded all the TV shows I've requested to a MegaUpload folder, in case my prompts seem interesting but you can't get hold of one of the canons. (For the books, please check your local library; I'm not a fan of pirating those. Yes, yes, I'm a hypocrite. So sue me.)

Table of Contents

• General Likes
  
• Smut Likes
  
• Do Not Wants
  
• General Prompts
  
• Optional Media Types
  
• Fandom Prompts
  
  1. Blake & Avery series - MJ Carter
     
  2. Inspector George Gently
     
  3. The Professionals
     
  4. Riptide
     
  5. Ted Lasso
     
  6. Vienna Blood
     
  7. Wiseguy

General Likes (may not be applicable to every request)

• Couples getting together
  
• Women having agency, competent women, women leaders
  
• Queer relationships treated as normal and unremarkable (even if the main couple is het, mentions of background queer relationships are fab)
  
• Age gaps in same sex relationships and older women with younger men
  
• Bisexuality
  
• Internalized homophobia, especially in historical canons, and overcoming it because of love of the other person
  
• Snark/banter/bickering
  
• Pining, especially mutual pining (eventually resolved happily)
  
• Explorations of non-human anatomy--not just sexual anatomy, either! Wings, scales, claws, odd bony outgrowths, tails, all good!
  
• Clothes porn and loving descriptions of pretty or historical garments, both in general and the removing of
  
• Cross-dressing (both men in dresses and ladies in men's suits)
  
• Loyalty kink, esp physically powerful men being subservient/loyal to women or physically weaker men and powerful women being subservient/loyal to other women
  
• Ridiculous fanfic tropes like fake dating, huddling for warmth, accidental baby acquisition, force to share a bed, bodyswap, sex pollen, etc. They're classics for a reason!

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Smutty Likes

• Frottage/grinding and intercrural
  
• Anal and rimming in m/m
  
• Spanking and impact play
  
• Biting, marking, and claiming
  
• Scenting & scent kink, one partner really getting off on the smell of the other partner
  
• Chest hair/body hair on men, and the other half of the pairing being super into it
  
• Praise kink & the praisee being overwhelmed by it
  
• Making note of the ridiculous and/or humorous bits of sex, esp between an established couple
  
• Wall sex, partially-clothed sex, "thank god we're alive" sex

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DNWs (see sections for canon-specific DNWs)

• Fixation on racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or any other -isms as the main theme of a fic; sermon or issue fic; homophobia or transphobia being portrayed as a cultural norm in OW or in canons where it canonically isn't; main characters being extremely and openly homophobic or transphobic; transgender headcanons for canon characters (transgender OCs are welcome); random slurs for no reason (esp misogynistic and homophobic slurs); inclusion of current real life politicians by name (e.g. don't mention Trump in a Wiseguy fic, even if it's a completely IC comment and he wasn't actually a politician at the time)
  
• Disordered eating or exercise regimens, or characters shown having eating disorders/unhealthy relationships with food
  
• Watersports; scat; ass-to-mouth; emetophilia; enemas; feederism, stuffing, or weight-gain kink
  
• On-page trauma to eyes, hands, or teeth (aftermath or h/c dealing with such trauma is fine!); on-page amputation or maiming of a main character; extreme gore; vore; cannibalism (non-humanoid creatures eating humanoids is okay); graphic animal harm to companion animals/pets; hopeless bad ends/mind-breaks
  
• Extreme underage (sexual content of characters under 15); age regression/ageplay; Mommy or Daddy kink; petplay
  
• Noncon or dubcon unless specifically requested for a pairing; if requested, no unaroused victims, victims who don't orgasm, or female or afab victims
  
• Non-canonical Major Character Death (death of minor characters and OCs is fine, and so is referencing the deaths of major characters who have canonically died); unrequested polyamory or open relationships (if one of the characters is canonically in a relationship with someone else, either break them up or handwave/ignore the canon relationship for the requested ship; please don't say "oh X is okay with this, we have an understanding" or whatever); either member of a consensual pairing being specified as asexual or otherwise not physically attracted to their partner
  
• Second person POV; poetry; heavy use of phonetically spelled out accents (the occasional dropped "g" or "gotta" is fine, but substituting "ya" and "yer" for every "you" and "your" is not); extensive focus on unrequested non-canon pairings

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General Prompts for all requests

If you don't know what to write for me, I would absolutely adore any of these tropes applied to any of the pairings I've requested:

• Case Fic - Character Investigating the Case Winds Up Hurt/In Peril as a Result
  
• Case Fic - Investigating a Crime in LGBT Community Leads to Getting Together
  
• Forced Proximity - Sharing body heat
  
• Forced Proximity - THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED
  
• Jealousy/Possessiveness - Feelings Revealed When A Mistakenly Thinks B Is With Someone Else
  
• Misunderstandings - Character A is serious about relationship but thinks B is just in it for sex
  
• Pining - Character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
  
• Pining - Oblivious A realises their interest when pining B hooks up with someone who looks like them
  
• Sex Tropes - Sparring Turns Into Sex
  
• Something Made Them Do It - Sex Pollen
  
• Something Made Them Do It - Undercover assignment requires putting on a performance
  
• Sudden Realization - A's Near Death Experience Makes B Realize Feelings for A
  
• Sudden Realization - One character wearing the other's clothes leads to feelings realisation
  
• Undercover - Breaking Cover to Protect Partner
  
• Undercover - In a Gay Bar
  
• Undercover - Undercover as a Couple and Realise Feelings

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Blake & Avery Series - M. J. Carter

William Avery/Jeremiah Blake (Blake & Avery)

I have been meaning to pick this series up for a while, because the requests in exchanges made it look exactly my jam, and surprise!! It is *exactly* my jam. The writing is excellent, and the descriptions are visceral, especially those of India (I am currently about halfway through book 2, which is set back in England). The plots are fabulous, and I appreciate that Avery isn't stupid or necessarily unobservant, which is always a risk when writing first person POV detective fiction from the "Watson" character. I really appreciate how well Carter shows that what Avery is thinking/assuming is wrong, without actually coming out and saying it. It's very deftly done.

Well these guys are in love. Like, holy cow, I got about a third of the way in and was just completely bowled over by the level of slashiness. We're talking Starsky & Hutch and season 3/4 of due South levels of slashiness here. Avery is completely and utterly fascinated by Blake from the very beginning, even when he thinks he's a horrible asshole who's keeping a million secrets. For his part, even from Avery's very oblivious POV, I think it's clear that Blake has strong feelings for Avery as well, though not until well after the first attack on the road in The Strangler Vine. Then he took a longer look at this obnoxious, idiotic Company Man and realized, actually, there's a core of steel and a good heart under all that privilege and ignorance.

Weirdly, despite Blake's general anti-establishment views, non-conformism, and skepticism, I get the impression that Avery is the one with more experience in male/male romance and sex. His relationship with Frank was obviously extremely close--closer than friends, maybe? And that other Company man climbing into bed with him while stopping at that post on the road didn't really seem to upset Avery much; he seemed more put out that his sleep was interrupted than because the dude wanted to fuck, even if he did turn him down. Blake, on the other hand, probably has a more visceral understanding of the risks of sodomy, and doesn't have the class privilege that may have insulated Avery from scrutiny.

So many of my general tropes/prompts fit with these guys. Undercover as Gay? Yes, please! Avery or Blake catches the other with a guy (who looks a lot like themselves)? Into it! One of them is hurt in an investigation and the other has to nurse him through it? NICE. Or just something understated where their care for one another is obvious, either in India or England.

A couple of notes on this request: For Helen, I would prefer she just kind of... be ignored? I know that sounds bad, but given the time period it's extremely unlikely that Avery would ever even contemplate divorce, and it's not uncommon in that time period for men and women of means to live mostly-happily apart from one another. So she can stay in Devon and Avery can be wherever Blake is, or hell, maybe this is an AU where they almost got married but never made it to the altar, or she married someone else before Avery and Blake returned to Calcutta. Please don't imply that she knows about Avery/Blake and is actually totally fine with it.

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Inspector George Gently

Character: Rachel Coles (IGG)
John Bacchus & Rachel Coles (IGG)
John Bacchus/George Gently (IGG)

I will admit, I started watching this show because Martin Shaw aged like fine wine and I'm a sucker for period costumes. I kept watching it because Gently/Bacchus hits so many of my buttons it's almost unreal. Loyalty kink! Desperate pining! Suit porn! Gruff older man/pretty younger man! John is so prickly and prejudiced and kind of an asshole, but he also loves his daughter and wants to be a good dad, thinks nothing of putting himself in mortal danger to save another person, and desperately wants Gently's approval. I also read him as deeply closeted and the majority of his overt homophobia is really directed at the gay part of himself. George is stubborn and set in his ways and happy to ruffle feathers (and more) to do what he thinks is right--and he clearly genuinely cares about John and wants him to be a better person. He's incredibly loyal but not blindly so; he's seen more than his share of betrayals. (Note: I blanket-DNW main characters being overtly homophobic. For this canon, you can disregard that, because John is canonically the kind of guy who is insulting to homosexual men. I ask that you don't make him worse than canon, but don't feel you need to make him super progressive in a way that's out of character.)

I would love any fic where these two get over their very deep issues and get together, possibly after one of the cases where they deal with the queer community. Or perhaps George starts spending time outside of work with someone else (Lisa??? it's canon!), and John realizes that what he feels for Gently is more than just what a sergeant feels for his boss. It could be the other way around too, with John pursuing Gently, and George trying to let him down easily because a) he's way too old for someone as young and bright as John, b) his career is almost over, but if they were found out, John would be ruined and/or c) he doesn't think he deserves to be happy again out of misplaced guilt/love for Isabella.

I really like most of the secondary characters in the show too. Taylor's a sweetheart (in spite of that awful mustache in season 3 or 4), and I really love Lisa. They could have gone with the bitchy, jealous wife/ex-wife, or have her blame Gently/the job, but instead she took the high road at every opportunity, and only wants what's best for her daughter. I can only imagine the heartbreak when she found out that the man she loved only married her because he was basically forced to by her father, but instead of becoming bitter, she stood up for herself. Her friendship with Gently is lovely (and not JUST because it makes John absolutely wild with jealousy). I would love to see any fic where the two of them take Leigh Ann out (maybe with bonus Lisa trying to give Gently a clue about John).

I also adore Rachel, and think she was a great addition to the cast. Her sibling-rivalry-esque relationship with John is beautiful, and I love how jealous John gets about George paying attention to her. I was so worried that they were going to lose that fun, platonic push-pull relationship and go for romance, and I'm SO glad they didn't. I think it would be interesting to see her and John forced to solve a case together while Gently is away--perhaps in a canon divergence where season 8 didn't happen and Gently was able to retire and he and John are secretly (but happily!) together.

If you want more prompts for Inspector George Gently from previous exchanges, you can find them in my George Gently tag. I've also uploaded the whole series here, if this sounds intriguing but you don't have access to AcornTV.

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The Professionals

Character: George Cowley (Professionals)
William Bodie/Ray Doyle & George Cowley (Professionals)
William Bodie/Ray Doyle (Professionals)
William Bodie/Ray Doyle/Original Female Character(s) (Professionals)

Pros-specific DNWs

• George Cowley shipped romantically or sexually with either Bodie or Doyle (past, present, or pining)

What I like about The Professionals
In my apparent quest to get into all old slash megafandoms decades after their heyday, I picked up a copy of the series DVD on eBay, and I love it. It's got a lot of the 70s charm (and wardrobe!) of S&H, but with the much appreciated addition of George Cowley, who is clearly about twice as badass as both Doyle and Bodie put together. If you haven't seen it and are interested, it is now streaming in all its remastered glory in the US on TubiTV and Roku Channel (in original air date order). You can also find all the episodes here (in production order).

I love the banter-y relationship between the two lads, and that Bodie is an unabashed asshole about 90% of the time--but his love and respect for both Doyle and Cowley is still crystal clear. His panic in Discovered in a Graveyard is incredible. I would love to see an exploration of the fallout from that, including a canon-divergence where Doyle isn't able to get back to full health and has to retire from the front-line of CI5. How does Doyle deal with that? How does Bodie deal with that?? Also, in the very early episode The Female Factor, they've both clearly been out all night with their two dates, then bring them back to Doyle's flat together to bang--and this doesn't seem like it's the first time they've done this! Maybe a story about another double date that didn't go as well with the ladies, but why end the evening early?? Or that old chestnut "M/F/M threesome unleashes FEELINGS."

As for Cowley, he may be my favorite character. I love that he's an complete and total badass (probably more badass than Bodie AND Doyle--even now, at his age, and with a gammy leg) but also a tactician and politician. He's not afraid to put himself in danger or to use himself as bait, which makes it a little more tolerable when he does the same to his agents. He obviously cares about Bodie and Doyle, even though he pragmatically puts them both in danger and lies to them and uses them as pawns. The scene in Wild Justice where he threatens to kill Bodie if he doesn't stop trying to murder King Billy is just *chef's kiss*. Cowley deserves a happy ending, but I don't think he'll let himself have one. I'd adore a little vignette about him and Annie as young firebrands, or perhaps a bittersweet moment where he realizes that he can't have the normal white-picket fence life with a wife (or husband??), 2.5 kids, and a dog, because he's already married to the job.

You can find other prompts for The Professionals for previous exchanges in my Professionals tag.

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Riptide

Cody Allen/Nick Ryder & Murray Bozinsky (Riptide)
Cody Allen/Nick Ryder (Riptide)
Murray Bozinsky & Ted Quinlan (Riptide)

What can I say, I'm predictable. Give me an old buddy cop show where the two main characters are ride-or-die for each other, and I'm fucking here for it. Nick and Cody are completely in love. Like, super in love. Damn. They served together in Vietnam, then stuck together in the MPs, and then live together on a boat. They even share a room!! COME ON, KISS ALREADY! I just love all the various ways that they could go from best friends to lovers, and would prefer get-together fic over established relationship fic.

I think my favorite part (besides the slashiness) is that they seem to go "undercover" at least once an episode. The humor is really fun, and the show never takes itself too seriously. I love Boz and the Roboz, and how it always seems to be able to do what they need it to for a case, but it can't do simple daily tasks! It's just a fun, light-hearted show, though it does suffer from being made in the 80s (lord almighty the episode where Nick's girlfriend had a PTSD flashback and ended up in the red light district had some really fucking dire racist and transphobic shit in it).

If I could change one thing about the show, it would be the way it treats Lt. Quinlan. His grudge against Cody & Nick (& Murray, later) is just so OTT for a man that smart. I love when he's forced to team up with the boys, especially with Murray, and would love to see some of that.

Some prompts:

• Post Who Really Watches Sunsets, Cody or Nick realizes their sunsets are numbered too, and takes the opportunity to confess their love
  
• After the series finale, either Cody or Nick considers what it must be like to be so afraid of what you are that you’re willing to go to jail rather than admit you’re gay
  
• Jake Tyler (Cody's doppleganger from Fuzzy Vision) arrives in King Harbor and makes trouble for the trio
  
• OR! Cody's not the only one with a doppleganger; not!Nick or not!Boz appears and Quinlan, of course, doesn't believe a word they say about it not being them

As of April 2023, it's streaming free in the US on Crackle, but the free streaming sites often take down shows or swap them around. If it's not there, it may be on Roku Channel, Tubi, or Plex. (Or you can find it here.)

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Ted Lasso

Keeley Jones/Rebecca Welton (Ted Lasso)
Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso)
Roy Kent/Trent Crimm (Ted Lasso)

I've showed up late with Starbucks again, but at least this time it's only fifteen minutes and not thirty years!! I completely adore this show; it's so much fun and has so much heart. I love almost all the characters (I even love to hate Rupert, the slimy bastard), and I really enjoy that as much as it's about Ted and Ted's story, it's a true ensemble show, and everyone gets a chance to shine. The whole team is a delight, all these beautiful himbos.

Additional Ted Lasso DNWs

• Keeley/Jamie/Roy as endgame. I love them together a lot, but it's often understood that all R/J fic is prelude to R/J/K, and I don't think that's necessarily true. In a gift for me, please keep the focus on R/J and let Keeley find happiness and fulfillment elsewhere.

Keeley Jones/Rebecca Welton (Ted Lasso)
Keeley's big giant crush on Rebecca can be seen FROM SPACE and I totally agree with her. Rebecca is gorgeous and wonderful and Keeley should absolutely get to play with those gorgeous breasts that Rebecca's mom gave her! 😂 I also adore their friendship; it's so nice to see a female friendship on TV that is just wholly supportive from the jump, no jealousy around a man or any sort of drama like that. They just want to help each other be the best they can be! Even if it means making fun of a baby to make your best friend feel better at her dad's funeral.

A couple prompts, but if you have other ideas, please feel free to go for it!

• Keeley or Rebecca is invited to a fundraising gala, and their date backs out at the last minute. Unwilling to go alone (maybe Rupert will be there?) they call up the other, and go together, looking smashing. One of the paps asks an invasive question--Keeley's romantic history has been all over the media so of course they know she's bi--and maybe she shuts them down, but it makes Rebecca think, "Wait... maybe???"
  
• After the season, Rebecca decides she needs to get away from it all for a couple weeks: no cell phone, no Twitter, no football. She invites Keeley along, but it turns out a lot more romantic than either of them were expecting.
  
• Someone else in the team's circle comes out (Colin, maybe?) and Keeley has a lot of feelings about it. Maybe her own outing wasn't entirely voluntary, or maybe it was but she's furious that she's seeing the same sort of headlines about Colin/whoever in 2023 as she saw when she came out in 2013. Rebecca admits that she envies how confident Keeley is about herself, as she could never admit she was bisexual.
  
• A slow-burn, post-Roy, post-Jack, post-Sam, post-whoever, Keeley and Rebecca find that the other one is the only person they truly can count on to be there for them 100%.
  
• Jack/Keeley happens and Rebecca has some very mixed feelings. She finally realizes it's actually jealousy she's feeling.

Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt (Ted Lasso)
Oh my god I LOVE THESE TWO! I sorta shipped them from the very beginning--the cocky young phenom and the experienced but aging star he's idolized for years is SO IDDY! They hated each other! And then they didn't! They've both matured a lot over the show, and I love how they've grown closer, but they haven't lost that competitive sort of push-pull relationship. I think they would have fantastic sex, and then not talk about their feelings and make everything much worse until they eventually stop being idiots. (I do like them with Keeley, but please no R/J/K in my gift.)

A few prompts (again, go off if there's something else you want to write!):

• A post season 2 canon divergence where Roy & Keeley break up before he goes to Marbella, and Jamie ends up either going with him or coincidentally in the same holiday town.
  
• Private training slowly becomes something more
  
• As a teenager, Jamie jerked off regularly to Roy's poster on his wall; he was a giant dick to Roy at first to cover up how much he wanted to fuck Roy. Now that they're friendly, his massive crush is harder (impossible) to hide.
  
• For Reasons, Phoebe ends up joining several of their training sessions, and she and Jamie get along like a house on fire, much to Roy's chagrin.

Roy Kent/Trent Crimm (Ted Lasso)
This one sounds a bit weird, but let me present two gifs and you try to tell me this isn't the face of a man who wants the great Roy Kent to absolutely fucking RAIL HIM:





Am I right?????

Some prompts:

• Trent has been writing about Roy Kent for 20 years, following his career from the time he was a 17 year old rookie until his retirement (and now beyond). He feels like he knows him--only now that he's working with him daily, he realizes he doesn't know him at all, but he likes this guy better than the made up Roy the world sees.
  
• After that "I bet you didn't think your book would be a fairy tale" scene, the team all goes out for drinks, and Trent and Roy leave at the same time, or are the last ones at the pub when the rest of the team goes to some club. They start talking and realize they have a lot more in common than they thought.
  
• After that super violent "beat them with a rope" scene in 3x05, Trent is acting really fucking squirrelly around Roy. Roy, assuming he's freaked out, tries to apologize; Trent eventually admits he's not freaked out, he's turned on.
  
• Trent apologizes again for the article he wrote 20 years before, this time somewhere they can speak a little more freely. (Not that Roy does, of course.)
  
• Trent has to bring his daughter to work for some reason, and the little girl becomes OBSESSED with Roy. (Maybe it's the beard.)

A couple notes: I like Nate. He's an asshole and he's completely fucked up and should feel badly for what he's done, but I'd prefer no OTT character bashing. Same with Zava; one of the things I have enjoyed so far is that even the antagonists are shown as flawed humans with their own thoughts and lives. Just because those don't mesh with the main characters' doens't make them evil. You can totally go ham on Jamie hating Zava in a totally OTT (precious moments figurine) way if you like! But I'd prefer if you keep Zava himself thoughtless rather than actively malicious. Rupert can be mustache-twirlingly evil, though. That's just canon. 😆

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Vienna Blood

Max Liebermann/Oskar Rheinhardt (Vienna Blood)

Well this show came out of nowhere and sucker punched me right in the feels. Like, damn. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, it's only 3 seasons of 3x1.5 hour eps on BBC iPlayer or 6x45 min eps in the US on PBS Masterpiece and SBS streaming in Australia. (Or all the episodes are here.) If you like Inspector George Gently or Lewis, you will probably enjoy this!

It's set in Vienna in 1907, and Max Liebermann is a young English doctor and a student of the still-controversial Sigmund Freud. Oskar Rheinhardt is a middle-aged Austrian detective inspector who, against his will, gets saddled with this annoying doctor who wants to "observe the criminal mind," only to find that psychoanalysis is surprisingly handy when it comes to solving murders. Oskar goes from "please go away, you're annoying and I hate you" to ride or die for Max in no time at all, and Max is similarly fascinated by this grumpy, hurt man who is clearly hiding a soft gooey center. There's also the very serious threat of growing antisemitism (the Liebermanns are Jewish), xenophobia (which affects Oskar, who is part Slovak according to the first episode), and the looming threat of WWI, which is only 7 years away.

I really adore Max's family. I love that even though the show really focuses on Max & Oskar, the Liebermanns are always involved somehow. Leah, Max's sister, is the smartest Liebermann, and I love that she has no qualms about telling Max off, especially when he's being a jerk to her friend Clara, his fiancée in s1 and ex-fiancée in s2. Mendel, their father, so clearly wants to do right by a son he doesn't quite understand, but he's not willing to let his desire for material things get in the way of his principles. Rachel at first seems somewhat like a stereotypical overbearing mother, but she clearly cares deeply for her family. Even when they are pushing for Max to marry Clara, over his objections, you can tell the root of it is that they love him and want him to be happy and safe, and in their world, that means he must marry a nice Jewish girl like Clara.

Clara didn't get nominated this time, but I would enjoy a story that includes her as a secondary character. Clara deserves better than Max, obviously--Max leaves his engagement party to go solve crimes with Oskar! In that same episode, Max takes Clara to an art show as part of the investigation and when she sees Oskar there, she straight up says "I thought you were taking *me* out, Max, I didn't know there would be three of us--that will be difficult when we choose dance partners!" She's smart (though she thinks she's stupid compared to Max the doctor, which is heartbreaking, honestly), and can hold her own. Seriously, Clara's great. I enjoyed her new fiancé in season 2--he clearly adores her like Max was unable to. Amelia, Max's other love interest, is a fascinating character in her own right, but her "romance" with Max is tedious at best. She's excellent when she's helping Oskar and Max solve crimes and being smart, less so when she's being shoved into a silly love triangle, fighting over a guy she doesn't even have chemistry with. My feelings about Amelia/Max can be summed up with this comment someone posted on FFA during season 1: I'm also pretty sure that deep down Max knows this, hence how meh he was on Clara even before Amelia turned up, but like any well-trained turn of the century psychologist he thinks homosexuality is a mental disorder so he's sublimating his forbidden desire for Oskar into a still transgressive but less threatening attraction to shiksas with whom he has zero chemistry.

Because, yes, Max and Oskar are IN LOVE. They are SO IN LOVE. They may not understand what it is they're feeling (or maybe they do!), but Max continually seeks Oskar out over anyone else, and Oskar is SO protective of Max, it's definitely love. I really enjoy the tension between the morals of the time--especially for Max, whose family really wants him to get married and settle down with a nice Jewish girl (Clara, preferably, but they'll take someone else)--with the the feelings that characters have for one another. Oskar is still technically married, but his wife left him after their daughter died as a child, so he has a lot of leeway in staying "single," unlike Max. But Max is already a member of the "intellectual elite" AND a Jew; being suspected of being a homosexual would be a third strike, and as the show makes clear, in Vienna, reputation is everything. But none of that seems to have stopped him from plunging headfirst into a working relationship with this middle(? lower?)-class policeman, solving gruesome murders, AND upsetting the elite by arresting them for said murders.

A few prompts for them:

• Casefic! Any casefic! Maybe something that involves Max's family, or maybe Oskar's wife shows back up and needs help, leading to some major jealousy on Max's part.
  
• Casefic involving the Liebermanns or someone in their circle--perhaps Leah has been seeing a nice widower and considering getting remarried, only *gasp!* he's suspected of a strange crime! Or one of Mendel's business associates is arrested/suspected.
  
• A Five Times fic where Max's family keeps almost catching him and Oskar in compromising situations (or situations that are 100% innocent, yet look compromising) and one time they catch them doing something ACTUALLY compromising, and they don't notice?
  
• Dracula/vampire casefic! Stoker published Dracula in 1897, and by 1907, it had been almost certainly translated to German. (Or Max picked up an original English copy before the family moved to Vienna or on a visit back home?) Maybe he has a patient who claims they're a vampire, while there are some vamp-like murders going on in Vienna? Max and Oskar argue about it, because Max refuses to give up the name of his patient.
  
• CLOTHES PORN. Max is always so nicely dressed. Oskar *should* be more nicely dressed for their dates. If you want to stick Max in a dress, even better.
  
• One or the other of them has experience with m/m sex--Max during boarding school in England, Oskar in the army (afaict it's not mentioned he was a soldier, but Austria-Hungary had mandatory conscription/service, though not all men were drafted)--and the other is an eager student.
  
• Max almost gets himself killed AGAIN, and Oskar just can't handle his feelings and kisses him.
  
• Oskar almost gets HIMSELF killed, and Max just can't handle his feelings and kisses him.
  
• Oskar gets so fed up with Max's attempts to get his dumb self killed, he bend Max over a desk and spanks him. (They both end up enjoying this.)

The series is available on various streaming services, but if you'd like to download it, you can find it here.

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Wiseguy

Sonny Steelgrave/Vinnie Terranova (Wiseguy)

Boy oh boy. This show did not skimp on the super intense slashiness right from the jump! Sonny and Vinnie are both EXTREMELY AND COMPLETELY NORMAL about each other from the very first moment they meet, with Vinnie picking the most drastic and violent way of getting Sonny's attention and Sonny immediately jumping from "I'm gonna beat this fucking kid to a pulp" to "I'm going to bring this hot side of beef into my inner circle and give him a fancy car, apartment, jewelry, clothes, and set him up with gorgeous women" faster than a fucking NASCAR driver. JESUS, boys, do either of you have even an ounce of chill about this??? And then when it all goes bad, we get a scene that looks like it's directly out of a fanvid, set to fucking Nights in White Satin!

My favorite thing about their relationship is how conflicted Vinnie is about actually liking Sonny, and seeing the good in him, even while understanding on a deep level that he is a really bad guy. Vinnie also seems conflicted the other way--he seems to have more than a little violence and rage in him, and I can see a path where instead of joining the OCB to get into the mob, he actually *does* go bad, and ends up in exactly the same spot, just on the other side, and still just as fascinated by Sonny as he is in canon. I think he loves watching Sonny get violent almost as much as he hates it, and that inner conflict is just delicious.

And the thing is, Sonny DOES have good in him, just like Vinnie says. He did care about Vinnie's mom, and Danny's murder, and all these things that really matter to Vinnie. I think there's an interesting exploration of what Sonny might have been if he hadn't been steeped in the violent, toxic culture of the mafia from the moment he was born; he's clearly sensitive and cares about his people, even if he shows it in extremely inappropriate ways. I mean, for fuck's sake, he gifted Vinnie a dead guy, like a cat presenting its owner with a dead bird! And he's sympathetic to the cokehead that Sid fires on his first day, giving him ten grand to tide him over while he gets clean. There's a reason he's at the top of this empire at 35.

Canon-specific DNW exceptions: For this pairing, you can disregard my "open relationships/unrequested poly" DNW. For these two, I'm perfectly happy with one of them being in a relationship with a woman (any of their canonical love interests or an OFC) and secretly fucking each other on the side, so long as the emphasis is on Vinnie/Sonny. For my "no overt homophobia" DNW, feel free to push up against that, so long as you don't go full-on with slurs everywhere. I can see Sonny especially as having extremely deep-seated internalized homophobia, and probably rationalizing his desire for Vinnie as some sort of power thing, or like, an aesthetic appreciation of his body and boxing technique. Him wanting Vinnie to suck him off or pin him down and slide his cock between Sonny's thighs (or even worse, let Vinnie pin Sonny down and actually fuck him) is different than "real" queers and homosexuals for Reasons. Regarding dubcon/noncon, some identity related dubious consent is almost required here, so if you want to lean into it, that's great. Just don't go full non-con or rape between them. Oh, and mentioning Vinnie as the victim of canonical(?) prison rape is fine too, but don't show it "on screen." Talking about it or using it as a catalyst for Vinnie/Sonny, if you want to go that route.

A few potential prompts:

• We get the fuck to Nights in White Satin that we deserved
  
• M/F/M threesome - Sonny strikes me as the kind of closeted bisexual who enjoys having a threesome with a girl and another guy as a plausible deniability thing. Sharing a woman with the boss is totally fine and straight because no dicks boop, and it’s enough. Except with Vinnie, it isn’t enough, he wants more, wants to touch him, and it’s maybe enough for him to break that mafia macho homophobic code. Who reaches out first?
  
• Or maybe they don't ever actually get to a threesome, instead they just keep fucking the same women, and it's a weird, tense power-play where every time they're fucking the woman, they're really thinking about each other.
  
• What if Vinnie did tell Sonny about the hit instead of Frank?
  
• That fight in the theater ends with a bloody kiss and a rough, angry, broken-hearted fuck--either a first time or a last goodbye
  
• Vinnie does go on the run with Sonny after the FBI swoop in
  
• Anything about Vinnie trying to reconcile his feelings for Sonny the man with his feelings about Sonny the don
  
• Sonny is a jealous man. He's perfectly okay with Vinnie fucking any number of women, but some guy makes a pass at him, or someone even just jokes about it, and Sonny is, as usual, EXTREMELY AND COMPLETELY NORMAL EXTRA about it, just like he is about everything else.
  
• Vinnie gets a really inappropriate boner when Sonny murders Patrice
  
• What if Sonny didn’t kill Patrice and he got that perfect position from which to negotiate that Vinnie set him up for? Does he get out in 18 months and look Vinnie up? Things between them have changed--both of them have changed too--and there’s still so much history between them, but there’s also something else there that they can’t deny.
  
• Harry "the Hunch" Shanstra is my favorite side character. I love his stories and how Vinnie respects him even when he thinks he's kind of a silly old coot. If you can fit him in, maybe have him telling Vinnie about some story about how close some old timey mobster and his right hand man were, how no one could split them up, with some knowing smirk about Vinny and Sonny, I'd love it.

Wiseguy is streaming free, with ads, on FreeVee. Unfortunately, it's the DVD version (aka the one where Nights in White Satin has been replaced by a lame instrumental). It is available in my MegaUpload folder with the original audio.

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I got some delightful treats in trickortreatex! I highly recommend all of them:

Emmeline (539 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Burn Notice
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam Axe/Fiona Glenanne/Michael Westen
Characters: Sam Axe, Fiona Glenanne, Michael Westen
Additional Tags: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Humor, Established Relationship, Trick or Treat: Treat, Romance
Summary:

Fiona has decided to raise the baby she found during a surveillance mission. Sam's on board, but she's going to have to talk Michael into it.

This is just an adorable little bite-sized treat of a story. Michael is dubious about this baby that Fiona and Sam have found, but as usual, he's never able to tell either of them no!

Circumstantial Evidence (317 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Professionals (TV 1977)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: William Bodie/Ray Doyle
Characters: George Cowley, William Bodie, Ray Doyle
Additional Tags: Secret Relationship, Trick or Treat: Treat, Making Out
Summary:

George Cowley knows Bodie and Doyle are around somewhere.

I love Cowley and I adore Cowley buying a clue about the boys. He's smart but suffers from a tiny bit of tunnel vision and I can see this exact thing going down.

The Big One (816 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Professionals (TV 1977)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: William Bodie/Ray Doyle
Characters: Ray Doyle, William Bodie
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat: Trick, Episode Tag, Car Sex, Hand Jobs, First Kiss, Bombs
Summary:

After a catastrophe is averted at the bowling alley, tensions are running high

A post-script to Stakeout, which ends in a delicious adrenaline-fueled fuck in the car.

Deadly Communion (1629 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Vienna Blood (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Max Liebermann/Oskar Rheinhardt
Characters: Max Liebermann, Oskar Rheinhardt
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat: Trick, Halloween, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Human/Vampire Relationship, Vampire Bites, Shameless Smut
Summary:

Max tells Oskar of an odd encounter with a new patient. Oskar is enthralled.

This one's delightfully hot and creepy. Max gets turned into a vampire, which results in some very hot sex that may or may not be because of his newly acquired vampire mind powers. (Not that Oskar is unwilling!)

Let It Snow! (7761 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer
Characters: Dave Lister, Arnold Rimmer
Additional Tags: First Time, Starbug Era, Hard-Light Arnold Rimmer, Frottage, Huddling For Warmth, Touch-Starved, Mutual Masturbation
Summary:

If he had a DollarPound for every time he’d ended up stranded on an ice planet with only Rimmer for company he’d have two DollarPounds. Which wasn’t very many, but it was weird that it’d happened twice.

What if Marooned had happened while Rimmer had a hard-light body and the Boys from the Dwarf were their older, slightly mellower selves from later seasons? Extremely emotional touch-starved huddling for warmth!

That Stony Law We Stamp to Dust (7452 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Blake & Avery Series - M. J. Carter
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: William Avery/Jeremiah Blake
Characters: Jeremiah Blake, William Avery
Additional Tags: First Time, gay clubs, mentions of blackmail, Public Sex, Anal Sex, Partially Clothed Sex, Getting Together
Summary:

“So what should we do?”

I felt a flutter of excitement in my belly, inappropriate as it probably was. It wasn’t as if Blake had agreed to ravish me, but nor was he pulling away in disgust. Perhaps I could get a little pleasure out of tonight, even if it was the necessarily subtle kind. “Move a little closer to me.”

GOD. This one is ... I can't even describe how much I love it. I am obsessed with this book series and these two characters, and this story is perfect in every way. It absolutely nails the character voices, really hits everything I love about their relationship, AND it's super hot. So read these books (The first one is The Strangler Vine by MJ Carter)t and then read this fic. Or read the fic and then read the books.

Dear ficinabox writer,

My main AO3 account is meinterrupted, and I have also written under my OW sock shiny_silver_socks. Feel free to peruse any other recent exchange letters (tagged dear author) for additional prompts/ideas/thoughts. If I've requested a prompt for one fandom, I'm generally happy for it to be applied to other fandoms. Also, if something is requested in my letter but not in my AO3 signup (or vice versa), please treat the sign-up on AO3 as correct over the letter. I tend to edit my signups a bit compulsively, and the letter doesn't always change accordingly. You can also find my signup at the AutoAO3 App.

Please note, some sections are longer than the others, because I've requested these canons multiple times and changed and added as I did so, while others are newer. This is NOT an indication of liking one request over another. I love all of these fandoms to bits and would be ecstatic to receive fic for any or all of them. Also, I would much rather you take one or two of my prompts or likes and run with them, rather than trying to stuff as many of them as possible into one fic.

I have uploaded all the TV shows I've requested to a MegaUpload folder, in case my prompts seem interesting but you can't get hold of one of the canons. (For the books, please check your local library; I'm not a fan of pirating those. Yes, yes, I'm a hypocrite. So sue me.)

Table of Contents

• General Likes
  
• Smut Likes
  
• Do Not Wants
  
• General Prompts
  
• Optional Media Types
  
• Fandom Prompts
  
  1. Blake & Avery series - MJ Carter
     
  2. due South
     
  3. Inspector George Gently
     
  4. The Professionals
     
  5. Red Dwarf
     
  6. Starsky & Hutch
     
  7. Vienna Blood

General Likes (may not be applicable to every request)

• Women having agency, competent women, women leaders
  
• Queer relationships treated as normal and unremarkable (even if the main couple is het, mentions of background queer relationships are fab)
  
• Age gaps in same sex relationships and older women with younger men
  
• Bisexuality
  
• Internalized homophobia, especially in historical canons, and overcoming it because of love of the other person
  
• Snark/banter/bickering
  
• Pining, especially mutual pining (eventually resolved happily)
  
• Explorations of non-human anatomy--not just sexual anatomy, either! Wings, scales, claws, odd bony outgrowths, tails, all good!
  
• Clothes porn and loving descriptions of pretty or historical garments, both in general and the removing of
  
• Cross-dressing (both men in dresses and ladies in men's suits)
  
• Loyalty kink, esp physically powerful men being subservient/loyal to women or physically weaker men and powerful women being subservient/loyal to other women
  
• Ridiculous fanfic tropes like fake dating, huddling for warmth, accidental baby acquisition, force to share a bed, bodyswap, sex pollen, etc. They're classics for a reason!

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Smutty Likes

• Frottage/grinding and intercrural
  
• Anal and rimming in m/m
  
• Spanking and impact play
  
• Biting, marking, and claiming
  
• Scenting & scent kink, one partner really getting off on the smell of the other partner
  
• Chest hair/body hair on men, and the other half of the pairing being super into it
  
• Praise kink & the praisee being overwhelmed by it
  
• Making note of the ridiculous and/or humorous bits of sex, esp between an established couple
  
• Wall sex, partially-clothed sex, "thank god we're alive" sex

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DNWs (see sections for canon-specific DNWs)

• Fixation on racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or any other -isms as the main theme of a fic; sermon or issue fic; homophobia or transphobia being portrayed as a cultural norm in OW or in canons where it isn't, canonically; main characters being extremely homophobic or transphobic; transgender headcanons for canon characters
  
• Disordered eating or exercise regimens, or characters shown having eating disorders/unhealthy relationships with food
  
• Watersports; scat; ass-to-mouth; emetophilia; enemas; feederism, stuffing, or weight-gain kink
  
• On-page trauma to eyes, hands, or teeth (aftermath or h/c dealing with such trauma is fine!); on-page amputation or maiming of a main character; extreme gore; vore; cannibalism (non-humanoid creatures eating humanoids is okay); graphic animal harm to companion animals/pets; hopeless bad ends/mind-breaks
  
• Extreme underage (sexual content of characters under 15); age regression/ageplay; Mommy or Daddy kink; petplay
  
• Noncon or dubcon unless specifically requested for a pairing; if requested, no unaroused victims, victims who don't orgasm, or female or afab victims
  
• Non-canonical Major Character Death; infidelity between requested pairings; unrequested polyamory or open relationships (if one of the characters is canonically in a relationship with someone else, either break them up or ignore the canon relationship for the requested ship; please don't say "oh X is okay with this, we have an understanding" or whatever); either member of a consensual pairing being specified as asexual or otherwise not physically attracted to their partner
  
• Second person POV; poetry; extensive focus on unrequested non-canon pairings

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General Prompts for all requests

If you don't know what to write for me, I would absolutely adore any of these tropes applied to any of the pairings I've requested:

• Case Fic - Character Investigating the Case Winds Up Hurt/In Peril as a Result
  
• Case Fic - Investigating a Crime in LGBT Community Leads to Getting Together
  
• Forced Proximity - Sharing body heat
  
• Forced Proximity - THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED
  
• Jealousy/Possessiveness - Feelings Revealed When A Mistakenly Thinks B Is With Someone Else
  
• Misunderstandings - Character A is serious about relationship but thinks B is just in it for sex
  
• Pining - Character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
  
• Pining - Oblivious A realises their interest when pining B hooks up with someone who looks like them
  
• Sex Tropes - Sparring Turns Into Sex
  
• Something Made Them Do It - Sex Pollen
  
• Something Made Them Do It - Undercover assignment requires putting on a performance
  
• Sudden Realization - A's Near Death Experience Makes B Realize Feelings for A
  
• Sudden Realization - One character wearing the other's clothes leads to feelings realisation
  
• Undercover - Breaking Cover to Protect Partner
  
• Undercover - In a Gay Bar
  
• Undercover - Undercover as a Couple and Realise Feelings

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Optional Media Types

I've selected a variety of different media types for my requests. Please see my sign-up for which tags go with which request.

• Medium Opt In: Any - Any In-Universe Documents That Fit the Canon Setting - I requested this for all fandoms, and selected some subtags that I think would fit each fandom especially. This doesn't exclude tags I haven't specifically requested! Think of the subtags as guidelines.
  
• Medium Opt In: Writing - Reddit: In-Universe Reddit Post On Any Subreddit (Post + Replies) - I've requested this for several of my fandoms, even though Reddit doesn't exist in most of these universes. I would prefer if you use the Reddit format but not go all out in making it a modern AU, if possible. Just accept the inherent contradiction of an early 1900s psychiatrist posting on Reddit but still using carriages and living pre-WWI.
  
• Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - In-Universe Newspaper, Magazine, or Tabloid Article - What would a spread on Starsky & Hutch in-universe look like? Or a front page after one of Gently & Bacchus's cases? What if Thatcher decided Fraser needed to improve the image of the RCMP and made him do an interview for some magazine? Did Lister's band ever get written up in the 23rd century version of the Village Voice?
  
• Medium Opt In: Writing - Advice Column - Who is writing to which advice column? Are they attempting to hide their identity (and failing, at least to the reader's eyes)? What do they want to know?
  
• Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - In-Universe Advertisement - Most of my requests are people with their own businesses, or who could have their own businesses post-canon. How does Blake advertise for clients? If Starsky & Hutch leave the police after Sweet Revenge and start their own PI business, what do their advertisements look like? For Red Dwarf, what do the DivaDroid International ads for the Series 3000 and 4000 mechanoids look like?
  
• Medium Opt In: Writing - Epistolary - This would be especially interesting for Blake & Avery and Vienna Blood. During the time between books B&A 1 & 2, they didn't communicate, but did Avery try? (Of course he did.) Did Blake draft responses he never sent? Or perhaps they write letters to other people that show how much they care for one another? And for Vienna Blood, maybe Max keeps up a correspondence with friends in England, or with Dr. Freud.
  
• Medium Opt In: Writing - Rashomon (1950)-style Conflicting Narratives - I will admit to being a fake fan who didn't actually enjoy Rashomon itself, but I do love all the pastiches of it. I think Leverage's "The Rashamon Job" is one of the best, in that each character's narrative shows so much of themselves, even when they're describing the others. I'd love to see this especially for Red Dwarf, since the four of them are so different, but would enjoy it for any of the requested fandoms. What does a day in the life at the 27th look like from the POV of Fraser, Kowalski, Frannie, Walsh, (and Dief?) What about CI5's HQ?

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Blake & Avery Series - M. J. Carter

WB: Any (Blake & Avery Series - M. J. Carter)
William Avery/Jeremiah Blake (Blake & Avery)

I have been meaning to pick this series up for a while, because the requests in exchanges made it look exactly my jam, and surprise!! It is *exactly* my jam. The writing is excellent, and the descriptions are visceral, especially those of India (I am currently about halfway through book 2, which is set back in England). The plots are fabulous, and I appreciate that Avery isn't stupid or necessarily unobservant, which is always a risk when writing first person POV detective fiction from the "Watson" character. I really appreciate how well Carter shows that what Avery is thinking/assuming is wrong, without actually coming out and saying it. It's very deftly done.

Well these guys are in love. Like, holy cow, I got about a third of the way in and was just completely bowled over by the level of slashiness. We're talking Starsky & Hutch and season 3/4 of due South levels of slashiness here. Avery is completely and utterly fascinated by Blake from the very beginning, even when he thinks he's a horrible asshole who's keeping a million secrets. For his part, even from Avery's very oblivious POV, I think it's clear that Blake has strong feelings for Avery as well, though not until well after the first attack on the road in The Strangler Vine. Then he took a longer look at this obnoxious, idiotic Company Man and realized, actually, there's a core of steel and a good heart under all that privilege and ignorance.

Weirdly, despite Blake's general anti-establishment views, non-conformism, and skepticism, I get the impression that Avery is the one with more experience in male/male romance and sex. His relationship with Frank was obviously extremely close--closer than friends, maybe? And that other Company man climbing into bed with him while stopping at that post on the road didn't really seem to upset Avery much; he seemed more put out that his sleep was interrupted than because the dude wanted to fuck, even if he did turn him down. Blake, on the other hand, probably has a more visceral understanding of the risks of sodomy, and doesn't have the class privilege that may have insulated Avery from scrutiny.

So many of my general tropes/prompts fit with these guys. Undercover as Gay? Yes, please! Avery or Blake catches the other with a guy (who looks a lot like themselves)? Into it! One of them is hurt in an investigation and the other has to nurse him through it? NICE. Or just something understated where their care for one another is obvious, either in India or England.

A couple of notes on this request: For Helen, I would prefer she just kind of... be ignored? I know that sounds bad, but given the time period it's extremely unlikely that Avery would ever even contemplate divorce, and it's not uncommon in that time period for men and women of means to live mostly-happily apart from one another. So she can stay in Devon and Avery can be wherever Blake is, or hell, maybe this is an AU where they almost got married but never made it to the altar, or she married someone else before Avery and Blake returned to Calcutta. Please don't imply that she knows about Avery/Blake and is actually totally fine with it.

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due South

Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski & Robert "Bob" Fraser (due South)
Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski (due South)
Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski/Ray Vecchio (due South)
Diefenbaker & Benton Fraser (due South)
Maggie MacKenzie/Francesca Vecchio (due South)
Ray Kowalski & Francesca Vecchio (due South)
WB: Any (due South)

due South specific DNWs

• Character bashing of any of the main trio; implying or outright stating that one Ray is a better friend to Fraser than the other
  
• RayV portrayed as overtly/actively homophobic
  
• On-page sexual harassment (i.e. don't show Thatcher hitting on Fraser even though it's canon; I hate it and it does a disservice to her character who should know better)

What I like about Due South
God I love this show. I love it so much and I'm so mad at myself and the world for conspiring to keep me from watching it for literal decades for no good reasons. But goddamnit, I'm here now, and I'm going to make the most of it!! I love the characters, I love their relationships, I love the serious moments and the silly moments, I love the music, and I even love the really dumb stuff, like how no lawyer in this show has ever been to law school, because what the actual fuck.

Fraser is my favorite character. I love the way his idealism and sense of justice seems to infect everyone around them, even against their will. His belief in people makes them want to do better, to be worthy of that trust. And I love that he's not perfect: he's stubborn and has a surprising amount of anger buried deep under layers and layers of protocol and repression. He is desperately lonely and just as desperate to pretend he's fine. He can't ever do anything by halves, even when he should, and sometimes his belief in people comes back to bite him in the ass--but he never stops believing.

Coming in just barely second are both Rays. I adore them both for different reasons, and I love to see them change and grow just by being in Fraser's orbit. Vecchio was headed straight for an IA or corruption investigation--and he probably deserved it. Then this weirdo in a red coat shows up and he believes in things like justice and doing the right thing, even when the wrong thing is easier and arguably better for everyone involved (e.g. Gerrard). I think RayV was never as idealistic as Fraser; he saw too many bad guys get away with too much shit in his neighborhood to think that the right always wins, but he clearly believed in *something* enough to become a cop when working for Zuko or someone like him would have been easier. I think Fraser reminded him of that, that there was one point in time when he thought the world could be different, and that he could make it that way--and that, heartbreakingly, was why he ended up leaving like he did. You can't tell me that the Vecchio we see in that jail cell in the pilot would have even been asked to go undercover as Armando, no matter how much he looked like him, let alone risk his neck to do it.

And then we get Kowalski, who I love just as much for different ways. In some ways he's more like Fraser than Vecchio was, but when we first meet him, he's totally lost that. He's broken and broken-hearted, and he doesn't care; he just doesn't know who he is without Stella. I love that we see him slowly come to refocus himself on Fraser, and in turn, see Fraser change as well. For all that Fraser's almost always in the red serge in s3/4, he's more casual, emotionally, and I think it's because of RayK. (And maybe it's a little because of the change in tone of the show after the cancellation/pickup, if you want to get Doylist about it.) I adore how Fraser & RayK seem to bring out both the best and the worst in each other; I cannot imagine Vecchio ever punching Fraser in anger, let alone Fraser punching him back. Kowalski just has a way of getting under people's skin! (I love Welsh & Thatcher's conversation in Seeing is Believing about how she's never wanted to shoot a fellow officer, but that's only because she's never had Kowalski working for her.)

If you want to throw in any Easter Eggs for me specifically, I have watched every episode of The Red Green Show multiple times (it was on my local PBS channel and my dad and I watched it together and now it's all on YouTube for your viewing pleasure). It's dumb and outdated and more than a little offensive at times, and I would absolutely die if any fic for me referenced Bob Fraser's cousin the lying water taxi driver from North Ontario (played hysterically by Gordon Pinsent, of course) or Fraser's cousin the yuppie Kevin Black (played by Paul Gross).

I still can't believe how fucking slashy this show is. Every time I rewatch I think, "gosh, they didn't really go as hard on the gay as I remember them going, right?" And every time, I am reminded that yes, they fucking did go there. Jesus.

Fraser/RayK, Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski & Robert "Bob" Fraser
What I love about Fraser/RayK is how they're different kinds of hot messes whose messiness compliments one another. Ray is high strung and high maintenance and loves with an intensity that borders on obsession, and as cool and collected as Fraser appears, he's just as intense and loves just as hard. They've both been hurt and are skittish about love (with good reason!) but they'd be so good together. And then they literally ride off into the sunset together!!

I love all the old school slash tropes for these two, everything from undercover in a gay bar to there's only one bed to didn't know we were dating/everyone thinks we're dating; basically everything except "We're Not Gay We Just Love Each Other"--because you can't tell me that a man who reacted the way RayK did to the word "closet" is 100% straight. Personally, I headcanon both Ray and Fraser as bisexual, possibly leaning toward men for Fraser. Whether or not either of them have ever acted on that attraction, well that's up to you.

I'm also a huge fan of general fannish tropes, like wingfic, bodyswap, soulbonds, handcuffed together, sex pollen. I'm not as into general or mundane AUs (like coffee shop or high school AUs), but do enjoy more fantastical ones or historical ones. I'd love something set post-COTW (either in Chicago or somewhere in Canada) or something set during the run of the show, where one or the other has a Big Realization, and they have to handle it somehow. Or maybe a smutty established relationship fic where Fraser's been out on patrol for a week and Ray has to show him just how much he missed Fraser (with his dick).

Then you throw in Fraser's ghost dad who *won't leave* (because Call of the Wild aside, you can't tell me Bob didn't keep showing up here and there), and that's just comedy gold--or emotionally heart-wrenching. Ray's probably got more than a few hangups about fathers-in-law, he thought hooking up with Fraser would mean he didn't have to deal with all that; turns out it's worse when your FIL is a ghost who can just show up in the middle of nowhere whenever! Or maybe Bob appears to help Ray out with saving Fraser, when Fraser's out on patrol--how does Ray react to a ghost appearing in their cabin? Did he believe in ghosts before? Maybe he's a lot more okay with ghost!Bob than Fraser was to start with?

Fraser/RayK/RayV
So, all that stuff I said above? Basically also applies here, with the added complication of Ray Vecchio. I don't generally headcanon that Fraser and RayV ever had anything going on during the first two seasons of the show. That phone call at the beginning of Burning Down the House, though, that sounded a whole lot like a guy realizing that he's about to lose something he didn't even know he wanted. It's just so full of feelings, and the weird emphasis on "as friends" makes me think that maaaaaybe they're both kinda wishing it was more than that. I think that before Fraser, RayV had never considered himself anything other than 100% hetero, and it took the threat of dying at the hands of the mob and never seeing Fraser again to even break through that macho Italian Catholic masculinity and think "actually, maybe..." And maybe Langoustine was a WHOLE LOT less straight than RayV/the feds expected, and at first he was just maintaining his cover with the occasional male hustler scattered in with all the female dancers and prostitutes, but things change, you know? And if he starts telling his guys to find him rent boys that are taller, with darker hair, maybe see if you can find a blue-eyed one this time.... well.

And then he comes back from Vegas, a whole lot more damaged and a little bit less straight, and he finds his best friend has run off to Canada with the guy who lived his life for a couple years. So he goes down to Florida with this gorgeous blonde who he genuinely likes but he can't deny there's a little bit of "fuck you Stanley" going on--you steal my Mountie, I'll take your (ex)wife. But going directly from more than a year (maybe two) of being deep undercover as someone as horrible as Armando Langoustine to a new marriage is a BAD idea, and Ray finds himself back in Chicago, and maybe so are Fraser and Kowalski. And well, it turns out that Ray and Ray have a lot more in common than just Fraser and Stella, and it makes Fraser so goddamn happy when they're friends and get along, and one thing leads to another and all of a sudden everything's gotten really complicated.

If that's not your thing, though, I'd love a scene from an established relationship too, or Ray and Ray partnering up at the 27 while Fraser is doing Fraser things, with some playful competition between them--some Sox vs. Cubs rivalry maybe? Or 'any sport but stinking hockey' vs. the Blackhawks vs. whoever Fraser roots for? Or Ray and Ray teaming up on Fraser for some reason (possibly to get him out of his clothes).

You can find other prompts for dS requests in Due South tag.

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Inspector George Gently

John Bacchus/George Gently (IGG)

I will admit, I started watching this show because Martin Shaw aged like fine wine and I'm a sucker for period costumes. I kept watching it because Gently/Bacchus hits so many of my buttons it's almost unreal. Loyalty kink! Desperate pining! Suit porn! Gruff older man/pretty younger man! John is so prickly and prejudiced and kind of an asshole, but he also loves his daughter and wants to be a good dad, thinks nothing of putting himself in mortal danger to save another person, and desperately wants Gently's approval. I also read him as deeply closeted and the majority of his overt homophobia is really directed at the gay part of himself. George is stubborn and set in his ways and happy to ruffle feathers (and more) to do what he thinks is right--and he clearly genuinely cares about John and wants him to be a better person. He's incredibly loyal but not blindly so; he's seen more than his share of betrayals. (Note: I blanket-DNW main characters being overtly homophobic. For this canon, you can disregard that, because John is canonically the kind of guy who is insulting to homosexual men. I ask that you don't make him worse than canon, but don't feel you need to make him super progressive in a way that's out of character.)

I would love any fic where these two get over their very deep issues and get together, possibly after one of the cases where they deal with the queer community. Or perhaps George starts spending time outside of work with someone else (Lisa??? it's canon!), and John realizes that what he feels for Gently is more than just what a sergeant feels for his boss. It could be the other way around too, with John pursuing Gently, and George trying to let him down easily because a) he's way too old for someone as young and bright as John, b) his career is almost over, but if they were found out, John would be ruined and/or c) he doesn't think he deserves to be happy again out of misplaced guilt/love for Isabella.

I really like most of the secondary characters in the show too. Taylor's a sweetheart (in spite of that awful mustache in season 3 or 4), and I really love Lisa. They could have gone with the bitchy, jealous wife/ex-wife, or have her blame Gently/the job, but instead she took the high road at every opportunity, and only wants what's best for her daughter. I can only imagine the heartbreak when she found out that the man she loved only married her because he was basically forced to by her father, but instead of becoming bitter, she stood up for herself. Her friendship with Gently is lovely (and not JUST because it makes John absolutely wild with jealousy). I would love to see any fic where the two of them take Leigh Ann out (maybe with bonus Lisa trying to give Gently a clue about John).

I also adore Rachel, and think she was a great addition to the cast. Her sibling-rivalry-esque relationship with John is beautiful, and I love how jealous John gets about George paying attention to her. I was so worried that they were going to lose that fun, platonic push-pull relationship and go for romance, and I'm SO glad they didn't. I think it would be interesting to see her and John forced to solve a case together while Gently is away--perhaps in a canon divergence where season 8 didn't happen and Gently was able to retire and he and John are secretly (but happily!) together.

If you want more prompts for Inspector George Gently from previous exchanges, you can find them in my George Gently tag. I've also uploaded the whole series here, if this sounds intriguing but you don't have access to AcornTV.

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The Professionals

George Cowley & Ray Doyle & William Bodie (The Professionals)
George Cowley & Ray Doyle (The Professionals)
George Cowley & William Bodie (The Professionals)
Solo: William Bodie (The Professionals)
WB: Any (The Professionals (TV 1977))
William Bodie/Ray Doyle (The Professionals)

Pros-specific DNWs

• George Cowley shipped romantically or sexually with either Bodie or Doyle (past, present, or pining)

What I like about The Professionals
In my apparent quest to get into all old slash megafandoms decades after their heyday, I picked up a copy of the series DVD on eBay, and I love it. It's got a lot of the 70s charm (and wardrobe!) of S&H, but with the much appreciated addition of George Cowley, who is clearly about twice as badass as both Doyle and Bodie put together. If you haven't seen it and are interested, it is now streaming in all its remastered glory in the US on TubiTV and Roku Channel (in original air date order). You can also find all the episodes here (in production order).

I love the banter-y relationship between the two lads, and that Bodie is an unabashed asshole about 90% of the time--but his love and respect for both Doyle and Cowley is still crystal clear. His panic in Discovered in a Graveyard is incredible. I would love to see an exploration of the fallout from that, including a canon-divergence where Doyle isn't able to get back to full health and has to retire from the front-line of CI5. How does Doyle deal with that? How does Bodie deal with that?? Also, in the very early episode The Female Factor, they've both clearly been out all night with their two dates, then bring them back to Doyle's flat together to bang--and this doesn't seem like it's the first time they've done this! Maybe a story about another double date that didn't go as well with the ladies, but why end the evening early?? Or that old chestnut "M/F/M threesome unleashes FEELINGS."

As for Cowley, he may be my favorite character. I love that he's an complete and total badass (probably more badass than Bodie AND Doyle--even now, at his age, and with a gammy leg) but also a tactician and politician. He's not afraid to put himself in danger or to use himself as bait, which makes it a little more tolerable when he does the same to his agents. He obviously cares about Bodie and Doyle, even though he pragmatically puts them both in danger and lies to them and uses them as pawns. The scene in Wild Justice where he threatens to kill Bodie if he doesn't stop trying to murder King Billy is just *chef's kiss*.

You can find other prompts for The Professionals for previous exchanges in my Professionals tag.

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Red Dwarf

Dave Lister/Arnold Rimmer (Red Dwarf)
Solo: Ace Rimmer (Red Dwarf)
Solo: Arnold Rimmer (Red Dwarf)
Spanners Lister/Ace Rimmer (Red Dwarf)
The Cat & Kryten & Dave Lister & Arnold Rimmer (Red Dwarf)
WB: Any (Red Dwarf (UK TV))

I watched this for the first time recently (I'm sounding like a broken record here, eh?) and absolutely adored it. It's hilarious and absurd and kind of disgusting and yet it somehow is also incredibly heartwarming. These four (or five) idiots are the only people left in the universe, so it's a good thing they have each other! The show does such interesting things with time travel and alternate universes, you really believe that anything could happen. I also really like how each episode is mostly self-contained (continuity, what continuity?) but there's still a thread of characterization growth through the series, which is really brought home in season 8 (ugh, the worst season) when they get human Rimmer back.

"I'm an animal. I'm a tasteless, uncouth, mindless, tone-deaf, randy, blokeish, semi-literate space bum!"
I love all the characters, but Lister is my favorite. He's lazy and gross and kind of a dick, but like the show itself, his heart is in the right place. I love when he gets to show off how smart he actually is under all the laziness, and when his attempts at being altruistic backfire (because it's Red Dwarf). He's just so *good* under all the curry stains and bad hygiene.

As you can probably tell from my list of requested ships, I ship Rimmer/Lister pretty hard. I just love their odd couple dynamic, how much they seem to hate each other, but they also still share a room despite having an entire massive ship and their choice of rooms. Holly knew that Rimmer was the person to bring back to keep Lister sane, even though clearly they drive each other mad. And in other universes, they are clearly more friendly than this one; I adore what we see of Ace and Spanners, and I absolutely LOVE our Rimmer and how much he hates Ace. I'd love something that looks at Rimmer's very clear internalized homophobia, and how that colors how he interacts with Lister (and all of his other selves).

A few possible prompts:

• After seeing their high and low selves (who are all definitely fucking), Rimmer and Lister can't stop thinking about it. Then Rimmer gets a hard light body and....
  
• Rimmer is out in the multiverse as Ace, and keeps running into Listers, but none of them quite measure up to "his" Dave, not even the ones who are objectively better and not so gross. Why *is* that? (Well, it's because he's not in love with those Listers, obviously.)
  
• The original Ace and Spanners were together, and when Rimmer shows up unexpectedly in their OG universe, he has to navigate Spanners wanting to rekindle it.
  
• OR the original Ace and Spanners were together, and when Ace stumbles back on our boys' universe, he tries it on with our Lister--and Lister, maybe missing Rimmer more than he thought he would, goes along with it
  
• Just being nice to Rimmer isn't enough to get them off that psi-moon in Terrorform. Lister decides to take drastic (smutty) action
  
• MULTIVERSE THREESOME (don't think too hard about the logic; the show certainly doesn't)
  
• We never see them celebrate Rimmer's Death Day on-screen after season 2, but I'm sure they did! Maybe a 5 times fic?
  
• Post-Promised Land, they run into another group of Cats who are in the midst of a religious conflict over whether to worship Cloister or The Mighty Light

Red Dwarf specific medium requests:

• Medium Opt In: Writing - In-Universe Complaint Form, Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - Official Workplace Documentation - We know Rimmer writes up Lister for anything and everything; give me some examples! Possibly with responses from Lister and/or any commanding officer that sees them.
  
• Medium Opt In: Writing - List of things (character) is not allowed to do - The obvious candidate here is Rimmer's list for Lister, but surely there are things Kryten and Cat and Rimmer aren't allowed to do!
  
• Medium Opt In: Writing - In-Universe RPF - My main thought for this one was Rimmer writing blatant self insert fanfiction about Ace and/or Lister, but perhaps Kryten has his own fanfic thought about Androids?
  
• Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - In-Universe Religious Text - We have not one but TWO canonical gods in the main cast now! What do the religious texts discussing Cloister the Stupid and The Mighty Light look like>
  
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Starsky & Hutch

Starsky & Hutch requests
Ken Hutchinson/David Starsky (Starsky & Hutch)
WB: Any (Starsky & Hutch)

What I like about Starsky & Hutch
I keep showing up to new(-to-me) fandoms 15-30 years late with Starbucks, and S&H is no exception. I adore this show! I especially love the relationship between Starsky & Hutch (obviously), and how much they obviously care about each other. They both need each other in different ways, and are better together than apart.

Personally I prefer the tone of the first two seasons over the latter two, and loathe Hutch's Mustache of Sadness, but I would still adore fic set whenever. If you want to combine any of these tropes, please feel free, or pick one and go with it! I don't have any preferences of sex/smut/explictness, just go with what feels right.

I have previously requested "We're Not Gay We Just Love Each Other" for this canon and am quite happy getting it here, because I can see either one of them being very adamant that he's still straight, it's just different when it's your partner. But if you want to go with both/either being completely accepting of their own homo/bisexuality, feel free! I think that in a post-Death in a Different Place world, the idea could easily worm its way into their brain and make them think "actually, I wonder...."

As for S/H/OFC, I adore stories where two guys who are in love with each other have a threesome with a woman, but are super focused on their male friend/partner. Maybe the threesome is the spark that makes one realize it's love, or that they's maybe a lot less straight than expected, maybe the woman even notices and says something!

Huggy and Dobey don't get as much love in fandom as the boys, but they're just as important to the story, and I'd love anything with them interacting with S&H. Huggy has always struck me as gay or bisexual, especially based on what he knows in DiaDP (I know the official story re: him knowing about the Green Parrot is it was convenient for the script, but that's dumb). Does he recognize S&H are into each other before they do? Does he play cupid? Or does he see where they're going and give them tips on staying closeted at work? As for Dobey, he puts up with A LOT from our favorite detectives--but it usually seems to work out for him. Maybe a "casefic" from Dobey's POV, where S&H are mostly out of the office doing what they need to do, while Dobey is back at the station, alternately yelling at them and politicking with the brass and cleaning up their messes? Or a quiet night at the Pits after a long case, and Dobey & Huggy teaming up to tease S&H.

You can find other prompts for previous S&H requests in my Starsky & Hutch tag.

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Vienna Blood

Max Liebermann/Oskar Rheinhardt (Vienna Blood)

Well this show came out of nowhere and sucker punched me right in the feels. Like, damn. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, it's only 2 seasons of 3x1.5 hour eps on BBC iPlayer or 6x45 min eps in the US on PBS Masterpiece and SBS streaming in Australia. (Or all the episodes are here.) If you like Inspector George Gently or Lewis, you will probably enjoy this!

It's set in Vienna in 1907, and Max Liebermann is a young English doctor and a student of the still-controversial Sigmund Freud. Oskar Rheinhardt is a ~50yo Austrian detective inspector who, against his will, gets saddled with this annoying doctor who wants to "observe the criminal mind," only to find that psychoanalysis is surprisingly handy when it comes to solving murders. Oskar goes from "please go away, you're annoying and I hate you" to ride or die for Max in no time at all, and Max is similarly fascinated by this grumpy, hurt man who is clearly hiding a soft gooey center. There's also the very serious threat of growing antisemitism (the Liebermanns are Jewish), xenophobia (which affects Oskar, who is part Slovak according to the first episode), and the looming threat of WWI, which is only 7 years away.

I really adore Max's family. I love that even though the show really focuses on Max & Oskar, the Liebermanns are always involved somehow. Leah, Max's sister, is the smartest Liebermann, and I love that she has no qualms about telling Max off, especially when he's being a jerk to her friend Clara, his fiancée in s1 and ex-fiancée in s2. Mendel, their father, so clearly wants to do right by a son he doesn't quite understand, but he's not willing to let his desire for material things get in the way of his principles. Rachel at first seems somewhat like a stereotypical overbearing mother, but she clearly cares deeply for her family. Even when they are pushing for Max to marry Clara, over his objections, you can tell the root of it is that they love him and want him to be happy and safe, and in their world, that means he must marry a nice Jewish girl like Clara.

Clara didn't get nominated this time, but I would enjoy a story that includes her as a secondary character. Clara deserves better than Max, obviously--Max leaves his engagement party to go solve crimes with Oskar! In that same episode, Max takes Clara to an art show as part of the investigation and when she sees Oskar there, she straight up says "I thought you were taking *me* out, Max, I didn't know there would be three of us--that will be difficult when we choose dance partners!" She's smart (though she thinks she's stupid compared to Max the doctor, which is heartbreaking, honestly), and can hold her own. Seriously, Clara's great. I enjoyed her new fiancé in season 2--he clearly adores her like Max was unable to. Amelia, Max's other love interest, is a fascinating character in her own right, but her "romance" with Max is tedious at best. She's excellent when she's helping Oskar and Max solve crimes and being smart, less so when she's being shoved into a silly love triangle, fighting over a guy she doesn't even have chemistry with. My feelings about Amelia/Max can be summed up with this comment someone posted on FFA during season 1: I'm also pretty sure that deep down Max knows this, hence how meh he was on Clara even before Amelia turned up, but like any well-trained turn of the century psychologist he thinks homosexuality is a mental disorder so he's sublimating his forbidden desire for Oskar into a still transgressive but less threatening attraction to shiksas with whom he has zero chemistry.

Because, yes, Max and Oskar are IN LOVE. They are SO IN LOVE. They may not understand what it is they're feeling (or maybe they do!), but Max continually seeks Oskar out over anyone else, and Oskar is SO protective of Max, it's definitely love. I really enjoy the tension between the morals of the time--especially for Max, whose family really wants him to get married and settle down with a nice Jewish girl (Clara, preferably, but they'll take someone else)--with the the feelings that characters have for one another. Oskar is still technically married, but his wife left him after their daughter died as a child, so he has a lot of leeway in staying "single," unlike Max. But Max is already a member of the "intellectual elite" AND a Jew; being suspected of being a homosexual would be a third strike, and as the show makes clear, in Vienna, reputation is everything. But none of that seems to have stopped him from plunging headfirst into a working relationship with this middle(? lower?)-class policeman, solving gruesome murders, AND upsetting the elite by arresting them for said murders.

A few prompts for them:

• Casefic! Any casefic! Maybe something that involves Max's family, or maybe Oskar's wife shows back up and needs help, leading to some major jealousy on Max's part.
  
• Casefic involving the Liebermanns or someone in their circle--perhaps Leah has been seeing a nice widower and considering getting remarried, only *gasp!* he's suspected of a strange crime! Or one of Mendel's business associates is arrested/suspected.
  
• A Five Times fic where Max's family keeps almost catching him and Oskar in compromising situations (or situations that are 100% innocent, yet look compromising) and one time they catch them doing something ACTUALLY compromising, and they don't notice?
  
• Dracula/vampire casefic! Stoker published Dracula in 1897, and by 1907, it had been almost certainly translated to German. (Or Max picked up an original English copy before the family moved to Vienna or on a visit back home?) Maybe he has a patient who claims they're a vampire, while there are some vamp-like murders going on in Vienna? Max and Oskar argue about it, because Max refuses to give up the name of his patient.
  
• CLOTHES PORN. Max is always so nicely dressed. Oskar *should* be more nicely dressed for their dates. If you want to stick Max in a dress, even better.
  
• One or the other of them has experience with m/m sex--Max during boarding school in England, Oskar in the army (afaict it's not mentioned he was a soldier, but Austria-Hungary had mandatory conscription/service, though not all men were drafted)--and the other is an eager student.
  
• Max almost gets himself killed AGAIN, and Oskar just can't handle his feelings and kisses him.
  
• Oskar almost gets HIMSELF killed, and Max just can't handle his feelings and kisses him.
  
• Oskar gets so fed up with Max's attempts to get his dumb self killed, he bend Max over a desk and spanks him. (They both end up enjoying this.)

The series is available on various streaming services, but if you'd like to download it, you can find it here.

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Dear raremaleslashex writer,

My main AO3 account is meinterrupted, and I have also written under my OW sock shiny_silver_socks. Feel free to peruse any other recent exchange letters (tagged dear author for additional prompts/ideas/thoughts.

Please note, some sections are longer than the others, because I've requested them multiple times and changed and added as I did so, while others are brand new for this exchange. This is NOT an indication of liking one request over another. I love all of these fandoms to bits and would be ecstatic to receive fic for any or all of them.

I have uploaded all the TV shows I've requested to a MegaUpload folder, in case my prompts seem interesting but you can't get ahold of one of the canons. (For the books, please check your local library; I'm not a fan of pirating those. Yes, yes, I'm a hypocrite. So sue me.)

Table of Contents

• General Likes
  
• Smut Likes
  
• Do Not Wants
  
• General Prompts
  
• Fandom Prompts
  
  1. Inspector George Gently (TV)
     
  2. Vienna Blood (TV)
     
  3. Agatha Raisin (TV)
     
  4. Republic of Doyle (TV)
     
  5. My Mysterious Mademoiselle - Louisa May Alcott
     
  6. Blake & Avery series - MJ Carter
     
  7. Jack Taylor (TV)

General Likes (may not be applicable to every request)

• Women having agency, competent women, women leaders
  
• Queer relationships treated as normal and unremarkable (even if the main couple is het, mentions of background queer relationships are fab)
  
• Age gaps in same sex relationships and older women with younger men
  
• Bisexuality
  
• Internalized homophobia in historical canons, and overcoming it because of love of the other person
  
• Snark/banter/bickering
  
• Pining, especially mutual pining (eventually resolved happily)
  
• Explorations of non-human anatomy--not just sexual anatomy, either! Wings, scales, claws, odd bony outgrowths, tails, all good!
  
• Clothes porn and loving descriptions of pretty or historical garments, both in general and the removing of
  
• Cross-dressing (both men in dresses and ladies in men's suits)
  
• Loyalty kink, esp physically powerful men being subservient/loyal to women or physically weaker men and powerful women being subservient/loyal to other women
  
• Ridiculous fanfic tropes like fake dating, huddling for warmth, accidental baby acquisition, force to share a bed, bodyswap, sex pollen, etc. They're classics for a reason!

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Smutty Likes

• Frottage/grinding and intercrural
  
• Anal and rimming in m/m
  
• Spanking and impact play
  
• Biting, marking, and claiming
  
• Scenting & scent kink, one partner really getting off on the smell of the other partner
  
• Chest hair/body hair on men, and the other half of the pairing being super into it
  
• Praise kink & the praisee being overwhelmed by it
  
• Making note of the ridiculous and/or humorous bits of sex, esp between an established couple
  
• Wall sex, partially-clothed sex, "thank god we're alive" sex

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DNWs

• Fixation on racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or any other -isms as the main theme of a fic; sermon or issue fic; homophobia or transphobia being portrayed as a cultural norm in OW or in canons where it isn't, canonically; main characters being extremely homophobic or transphobic; transgender headcanons for canon characters
  
• Disordered eating or exercise regimens, or characters shown having eating disorders/unhealthy relationships with food
  
• Watersports; scat; ass-to-mouth; emetophilia; enemas; feederism, stuffing, or weight-gain kink
  
• On-page trauma to eyes, hands, or teeth (aftermath or h/c dealing with such trauma is fine!); on-page amputation or maiming of a main character; extreme gore; vore; cannibalism (non-humanoid creatures eating humanoids is okay); graphic animal harm to companion animals/pets; hopeless bad ends/mind-breaks
  
• Extreme underage (sexual content of characters under 15); age regression/ageplay; Mommy or Daddy kink; petplay
  
• Noncon or dubcon unless specifically requested for a pairing; if requested, no unaroused victims, victims who don't orgasm, or female or afab victims
  
• Non-canonical Major Character Death; infidelity between requested pairings; unrequested polyamory or open relationships (if one of the characters is canonically in a relationship with someone else, either break them up or ignore the canon relationship for the requested ship; please don't say "oh X is okay with this, we have an understanding" or whatever); either member of a consensual pairing being specified as asexual or otherwise not physically attracted to their partner
  
• Second person POV; poetry; extensive focus on unrequested non-canon pairings

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General Prompts for all requests

If you don't know what to write for me, I would absolutely adore any of these tropes applied to any of the pairings I've requested:

• Case Fic - Character Investigating the Case Winds Up Hurt/In Peril as a Result
  
• Case Fic - Investigating a Crime in LGBT Community Leads to Getting Together
  
• Forced Proximity - Sharing body heat
  
• Forced Proximity - THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED
  
• Jealousy/Possessiveness - Feelings Revealed When A Mistakenly Thinks B Is With Someone Else
  
• Misunderstandings - Character A is serious about relationship but thinks B is just in it for sex
  
• Pining - Character reveals their feelings while not quite lucid (hurt/drunk/etc.)
  
• Pining - Oblivious A realises their interest when pining B hooks up with someone who looks like them
  
• Sex Tropes - Sparring Turns Into Sex
  
• Something Made Them Do It - Sex Pollen
  
• Something Made Them Do It - Undercover assignment requires putting on a performance
  
• Sudden Realization - A's Near Death Experience Makes B Realize Feelings for A
  
• Sudden Realization - One character wearing the other's clothes leads to feelings realisation
  
• Undercover - Breaking Cover to Protect Partner
  
• Undercover - In a Gay Bar
  
• Undercover - Undercover as a Couple and Realise Feelings

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Inspector George Gently (TV)

George Gently/John Bacchus

I will admit, I started watching this show because Martin Shaw aged like fine wine and I'm a sucker for period costumes. I kept watching it because Gently/Bacchus hits so many of my buttons it's almost unreal. Loyalty kink! Desperate pining! Suit porn! Gruff older man/pretty younger man! John is so prickly and prejudiced and kind of an asshole, but he also loves his daughter and wants to be a good dad, thinks nothing of putting himself in mortal danger to save another person, and desperately wants Gently's approval. I also read him as deeply closeted and the majority of his overt homophobia is really directed at the gay part of himself. George is stubborn and set in his ways and happy to ruffle feathers (and more) to do what he thinks is right--and he clearly genuinely cares about John and wants him to be a better person. He's incredibly loyal but not blindly so; he's seen more than his share of betrayals. (Note: I blanket-DNW main characters being overtly homophobic. For this canon, you can disregard that, because John is canonically the kind of guy who is insulting to homosexual men. I ask that you don't make him worse than canon, but don't feel you need to make him super progressive in a way that's out of character.)

I would love any fic where these two get over their very deep issues and get together, possibly after one of the cases where they deal with the queer community. Or perhaps George starts spending time outside of work with someone else (Lisa??? it's canon!), and John realizes that what he feels for Gently is more than just what a sergeant feels for his boss. It could be the other way around too, with John pursuing Gently, and George trying to let him down easily because a) he's way too old for someone as young and bright as John, b) his career is almost over, but if they were found out, John would be ruined and/or c) he doesn't think he deserves to be happy again out of misplaced guilt/love for Isabella.

I really like most of the secondary characters in the show too. Taylor's a sweetheart (in spite of that awful mustache in season 3 or 4), and I really love Lisa. They could have gone with the bitchy, jealous wife/ex-wife, or have her blame Gently/the job, but instead she took the high road at every opportunity, and only wants what's best for her daughter. I can only imagine the heartbreak when she found out that the man she loved only married her because he was basically forced to by her father, but instead of becoming bitter, she stood up for herself. Her friendship with Gently is lovely (and not JUST because it makes John absolutely wild with jealousy). I would love to see any fic where the two of them take Leigh Ann out (maybe with bonus Lisa trying to give Gently a clue about John).

I also adore Rachel, and think she was a great addition to the cast. Her sibling-rivalry-esque relationship with John is beautiful, and I love how jealous John gets about George paying attention to her. I was so worried that they were going to lose that fun, platonic push-pull relationship and go for romance, and I'm SO glad they didn't. I think it would be interesting to see her and John forced to solve a case together while Gently is away--perhaps in a canon divergence where season 8 didn't happen and Gently was able to retire and he and John are secretly (but happily!) together.

If you want more prompts for Inspector George Gently from previous exchanges, you can find them in my George Gently tag. I've also uploaded the whole series here, if this sounds intriguing but you don't have access to AcornTV.

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Vienna Blood (TV)

Max Liebermann/Oskar Rheinhardt

Well this show came out of nowhere and sucker punched me right in the feels. Like, damn. If you haven't had a chance to watch it, it's only 2 seasons of 3x1.5 hour eps on BBC iPlayer or 6x45 min eps in the US on PBS Masterpiece and SBS streaming in Australia. (Or all the episodes are here.) If you like Inspector George Gently or Lewis, you will probably enjoy this!

It's set in Vienna in 1907, and Max Liebermann is a young English doctor and a student of the still-controversial Sigmund Freud. Oskar Rheinhardt is a ~50yo Austrian detective inspector who, against his will, gets saddled with this annoying doctor who wants to "observe the criminal mind," only to find that psychoanalysis is surprisingly handy when it comes to solving murders. Oskar goes from "please go away, you're annoying and I hate you" to ride or die for Max in no time at all, and Max is similarly fascinated by this grumpy, hurt man who is clearly hiding a soft gooey center. There's also the very serious threat of growing antisemitism (the Liebermanns are Jewish), xenophobia (which affects Oskar, who is part Slovak according to the first episode), and the looming threat of WWI, which is only 7 years away.

I really adore Max's family. I love that even though the show really focuses on Max & Oskar, the Liebermanns are always involved somehow. Leah, Max's sister, is the smartest Liebermann, and I love that she has no qualms about telling Max off, especially when he's being a jerk to her friend Clara, his fiancée in s1 and ex-fiancée in s2. Mendel, their father, so clearly wants to do right by a son he doesn't quite understand, but he's not willing to let his desire for material things get in the way of his principles. Rachel at first seems somewhat like a stereotypical overbearing mother, but she clearly cares deeply for her family. Even when they are pushing for Max to marry Clara, over his objections, you can tell the root of it is that they love him and want him to be happy and safe, and in their world, that means he must marry a nice Jewish girl like Clara.

Clara didn't get nominated this time, but I would enjoy a story that includes her as a secondary character. Clara deserves better than Max, obviously--Max leaves his engagement party to go solve crimes with Oskar! In that same episode, Max takes Clara to an art show as part of the investigation and when she sees Oskar there, she straight up says "I thought you were taking *me* out, Max, I didn't know there would be three of us--that will be difficult when we choose dance partners!" She's smart (though she thinks she's stupid compared to Max the doctor, which is heartbreaking, honestly), and can hold her own. Seriously, Clara's great. I enjoyed her new fiancé in season 2--he clearly adores her like Max was unable to. Amelia, Max's other love interest, is a fascinating character in her own right, but her "romance" with Max is tedious at best. She's excellent when she's helping Oskar and Max solve crimes and being smart, less so when she's being shoved into a silly love triangle, fighting over a guy she doesn't even have chemistry with. My feelings about Amelia/Max can be summed up with this comment someone posted on FFA during season 1: I'm also pretty sure that deep down Max knows this, hence how meh he was on Clara even before Amelia turned up, but like any well-trained turn of the century psychologist he thinks homosexuality is a mental disorder so he's sublimating his forbidden desire for Oskar into a still transgressive but less threatening attraction to shiksas with whom he has zero chemistry.

Because, yes, Max and Oskar are IN LOVE. They are SO IN LOVE. They may not understand what it is they're feeling (or maybe they do!), but Max continually seeks Oskar out over anyone else, and Oskar is SO protective of Max, it's definitely love. I really enjoy the tension between the morals of the time--especially for Max, whose family really wants him to get married and settle down with a nice Jewish girl (Clara, preferably, but they'll take someone else)--with the the feelings that characters have for one another. Oskar is still technically married, but his wife left him after their daughter died as a child, so he has a lot of leeway in staying "single," unlike Max. But Max is already a member of the "intellectual elite" AND a Jew; being suspected of being a homosexual would be a third strike, and as the show makes clear, in Vienna, reputation is everything. But none of that seems to have stopped him from plunging headfirst into a working relationship with this middle(? lower?)-class policeman, solving gruesome murders, AND upsetting the elite by arresting them for said murders.

A few prompts for them:

• Casefic! Any casefic! Maybe something that involves Max's family, or maybe Oskar's wife shows back up and needs help, leading to some major jealousy on Max's part.
  
• Casefic involving the Liebermanns or someone in their circle--perhaps Leah has been seeing a nice widower and considering getting remarried, only *gasp!* he's suspected of a strange crime! Or one of Mendel's business associates is arrested/suspected.
  
• A Five Times fic where Max's family keeps almost catching him and Oskar in compromising situations (or situations that are 100% innocent, yet look compromising) and one time they catch them doing something ACTUALLY compromising, and they don't notice?
  
• Dracula/vampire casefic! Stoker published Dracula in 1897, and by 1907, it had been almost certainly translated to German. (Or Max picked up an original English copy before the family moved to Vienna or on a visit back home?) Maybe he has a patient who claims they're a vampire, while there are some vamp-like murders going on in Vienna? Max and Oskar argue about it, because Max refuses to give up the name of his patient.
  
• CLOTHES PORN. Max is always so nicely dressed. Oskar *should* be more nicely dressed for their dates. If you want to stick Max in a dress, even better.
  
• One or the other of them has experience with m/m sex--Max during boarding school in England, Oskar in the army (afaict it's not mentioned he was a soldier, but Austria-Hungary had mandatory conscription/service, though not all men were drafted)--and the other is an eager student.
  
• Max almost gets himself killed AGAIN, and Oskar just can't handle his feelings and kisses him.
  
• Oskar almost gets HIMSELF killed, and Max just can't handle his feelings and kisses him.
  
• Oskar gets so fed up with Max's attempts to get his dumb self killed, he bend Max over a desk and spanks him. (They both end up enjoying this.)

The series is available on various streaming services, but if you'd like to download it, you can find it here.

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Agatha Raisin (TV)

Charles Fraith/Roy Silver

This show is adorably silly. I never thought I'd end up shipping anyone here, let alone Roy and Charles, but in s3 they end up living together and that just gave me all the "friends with benefits that maybe turns to more" for them! Charles just has terrible luck with women, maybe Roy jokingly suggests he try men--and of course Roy is right there. I mean, they fall asleep on each other's shoulders!! Roy seems the type to not really care if a "straight guy" uses him for experimentation--and Charles could probably be convinced to at least give Roy a hand even if he thinks he's too straight for much else.

I also adore the close platonic relationship between Roy and Agatha. I would love to see Agatha's reaction to Charles/Roy; I'm sure it would be over the top in some way.

Please note, I'm NOT a fan of Agatha/James, I thought he was kind of a sucking void of anti-charisma and like Agatha a lot more when she's single (or with someone like Bill, who seems to actually seems to like her when she's at her zaniest). I was so happy when she eventually dumped him! Please just ignore James if you want to set it while they're together, no need to uncanonically break them up.

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Republic of Doyle (TV)

Jake Doyle/Kevin Crocker

Republic of Doyle is a pretty standard action/crime of the week mystery show, set in St. John's, Newfoundland. Jake Doyle is a former cop who now works as a private investigator with his father Malachy, and his step-mother Rose. It's a family affair, with Jake's siblings Christian, Kathleen, and niece Tinny helping out from time to time (and getting in trouble). Jake has an on-again, off-again relationship with police officer Leslie. It's unabashedly Canadian, and can get a little cheesy at times, but it's a fun romp.

Kevin Crocker (played by Paul Gross) is Jake Doyle's former partner from when he was a cop. Crocker was kind of a mess, drugs, prostitutes, corruption, the lot. He was accused of corruption and murder and disappeared, only to reappear 10 years later to force Jake into robbing an ATM company. His relationship with Jake was very complicated, and while they were working together, he was secretly sleeping with Jake's sister and fathered Jake's beloved niece Tinny, which comes to light while Crocker is serving a prison term for the kidnapping of said niece. He eventually escapes with the help of Maurice Beckett (played by Gordon Pinset, who played Benton Fraser's ghost dad on Due South in a Canadian Actor Family Reunion), then returns to clear his name.

Honestly, from the very start, I thought Crocker's feelings for Jake were more than just buddies. Sleeping with Kathleen felt like a way to get one over on Jake AND get close to Jake AND maybe a fuck Jake by proxy. This is one where I don't really see it ever being a happily-ever-after couple, but they could definitely have some real hot sex before it all comes crashing down.

I would love to see an exploration of their original partnership, of the beginning of Crocker's obsession with Jake. Was it an ill-advised one-night stand after an adrenaline-fueled car chase while they were in uniform? Was it entirely one-sided, or did Jake admire and want to emulate Crocker at the beginning? Did the relationship with Kathleen start as Crocker pretending she was her brother? (You can get as explicit as you like with Kathleen/Crocker; I am explicitly opting into a side of het for this request. Genuinely, I'd actually be pleased with a fic that's technically Crocker/Kathleen if the major emotional emphasis was on how Crocker keeps comparing her to Jake, or wishing she was Jake, or talking about Jake the whole time they're fucking.) Maybe after Crocker comes back and clears his name, while Jake and Leslie are off-again, they have a night together.

The series is available on various streaming services, but if you'd like to download it, you can find it here. Kevin Crocker appears in the following episodes:

- 2x13 Family Business (Major)
- 4x02 Blood Work (Minor)
- 4x03 Identity Crisis (Minor)
- 4x04 Carlotta's Way (Minor)
- 4x07 In Brigus (Minor)
- 4x12 Return of the Kingpin (Major)
- 4x13 What Doesn't Kill You (Major)
- 5x13 Welcome Back Crocker (Major)

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My Mysterious Mademoiselle - Louisa May Alcott

George Vane Vandeleur/George Vane (MMM)

If you thought Louisa May Alcott of Little Women fame was a sweet, unproblematic author of children's fiction, boy do I have a story for you. My Mysterious Mademoiselle is a short story that Alcott published anonymously in 1869, and if I were tagging it for AO3 I would tag it crossdressing, identity porn, age gap, incest smarm, uncle/nephew incest, and dead dove: do not eat. It's less than 5k words long, and can be found in its entirety on WikiSource as it is in the public domain.

I would love anything that expands on the story, where young George moves to England to live with Uncle George after his mother's death. Clearly the elder George is a bit of a cad and a flirt, and perhaps the younger George is jealous of his dear uncle's affections, and goes to some lengths to secure it. In this case, I'd prefer if the younger George was the pursuer, or it's more mutual, rather than the elder George chasing after his nephew. You can lean into the crossdressing aspect, maybe add in some gender fuckery, or not--maybe Uncle George prefers stripping his nephew fully out of his mademoiselle guise and enjoying his very male body to the fullest. The story definitely lends itself to some clothes porn! Perhaps Uncle George takes the young mademoiselle shopping, and they both have a good time flaunting their relationship under the nose of shopkeepers and even some of George's friends!

If you'd like some ideas, this story was discussed pretty heavily on FFA when we first discovered it, and there are some great prompts hidden in the threads. I'd be ecstatic to see any of them:

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/476406.html?thread=2857460726#cmt2857460726
https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/476538.html?thread=2858900090#cmt2858900090
https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/476406.html?thread=2858616822#cmt2858616822
https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/476749.html?thread=2860618317#cmt2860618317

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Blake & Avery Series - M. J. Carter

William Avery/Jeremiah Blake

I have been meaning to pick this series up for a while, because the requests in exchanges made it look exactly my jam, and surprise!! It is *exactly* my jam. The writing is excellent, and the descriptions are visceral, especially those of India (I am currently about halfway through book 2, which is set back in England). The plots are fabulous, and I appreciate that Avery isn't stupid or necessarily unobservant, which is always a risk when writing first person POV detective fiction from the "Watson" character. I really appreciate how well Carter shows that what Avery is thinking/assuming is wrong, without actually coming out and saying it. It's very deftly done.

Well these guys are in love. Like, holy cow, I got about a third of the way in and was just completely bowled over by the level of slashiness. We're talking Starsky & Hutch and season 3/4 of due South levels of slashiness here. Avery is completely and utterly fascinated by Blake from the very beginning, even when he thinks he's a horrible asshole who's keeping a million secrets. For his part, even from Avery's very oblivious POV, I think it's clear that Blake has strong feelings for Avery as well, though not until well after the first attack on the road in The Strangler Vine. Then he took a longer look at this obnoxious, idiotic Company Man and realized, actually, there's a core of steel and a good heart under all that privilege and ignorance.

Weirdly, despite Blake's general anti-establishment views, non-conformism, and skepticism, I get the impression that Avery is the one with more experience in male/male romance and sex. His relationship with Frank was obviously extremely close--closer than friends, maybe? And that other Company man climbing into bed with him while stopping at that post on the road didn't really seem to upset Avery much; he seemed more put out that his sleep was interrupted than because the dude wanted to fuck, even if he did turn him down. Blake, on the other hand, probably has a more visceral understanding of the risks of sodomy, and doesn't have the class privilege that may have insulated Avery from scrutiny.

So many of my general tropes/prompts fit with these guys. Undercover as Gay? Yes, please! Avery or Blake catches the other with a guy (who looks a lot like themselves)? Into it! One of them is hurt in an investigation and the other has to nurse him through it? NICE. Or just something understated where their care for one another is obvious, either in India or England.

A couple of notes on this request: I have only read the first book all the way through, and currently reading the second. I expect I'll have finished it before the exchange reveals, but may not have finished the third book. I would appreciate avoiding big spoilers from book 3 (e.g. who the murderer is), but I'm not a spoilerphobe, so if it really needs to be included in the story, then go for it. As for Helen, I would prefer she just kind of... be ignored? I know that sounds bad, but given the time period it's extremely unlikely that Avery would ever even contemplate divorce, and it's not uncommon in that time period for men and women of means to live mostly-happily apart from one another. So she can stay in Devon and Avery can be wherever Blake is, or hell, maybe this is an AU where they almost got married but never made it to the altar, or she married someone else before Avery and Blake returned to Calcutta. Please don't imply that she knows about Avery/Blake and is actually totally fine with it.

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Jack Taylor (TV)

Cody Farraher/Jack Taylor (Jack Taylor)

Jacky Taylor is an alcoholic former member of the Guards (Irish national police), who now is a private investigator, or as he would call it "a finder." He is hired to find missing people or investigate crimes the Guards won't, most of them pretty dark, and ends up getting beat up in almost every episode (sometimes more than once). Cody Farraher is an Irish Justin Long clone and Jack's extremely eager young assistant, who straight up hero worships him. He pretty much stalked Jack and made up extremely cute business cards for their PI firm before he even met the man, because he was so infatuated with his reputation, and that infatuation does not go away once he meets the real Jack. Eventually, Jack unbends enough to admit that not only is Cody useful, he actually likes the kid, and goes a bit mad when [SPOILERS] happen in late season 2. Cody leaving at the beginning of series 3 isn't the ONLY reason that season is the worst (Kate Noonan, Jack's cop friend and sort-of off-and-on-again love interest was also recast and given a completely horrible cancer story line), but it didn't help.

I would love something that leans into Cody's admiration of Jack, and Jack not really sure what to do with it/him. He's just a broken down former cop whose life is a fucking mess; why does this bright young thing insist on hanging around him? Or maybe Jack realizes that he's actually really into Cody's attention when it's no longer on him. Or Cody's realization that the man he worshiped isn't real, but he's still just as into the real Jack, with all his flaws and foibles. Or maybe Jack saves Cody from yet another bad guy, and the two of them have a rough, "oh fuck you're alive" makeout against a brick wall.

The series is available on various streaming services, but if you'd like to download it, you can find it here. Cody shows up in s1e2, is a major character for the rest of season 1 and season 2, then is gone in season 3. Please note that all of these mysteries deal with some very heavy topics, including child sexual abuse and systemic abuse by the Catholic Church.

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